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Welland in top 20 most romantic Canadian cities: Amazon

Welland might not be the first city that comes to mind when thinking about romance, but it seems to be on the minds of the people who live there.

Welland lived up to its Rose City nickname this week, earning the No. 17 spot in a list of Canada’s most romantic cities published Monday by Amazon Canada.

In an email, spokesperson Andrew Gouveia said the online shopping habits of Welland residents led to the city’s inclusion in the top 20 list.

He said Amazon compiles sales data from all Canadian cities from Jan. 1, 2017, to Jan. 1, 2018, on romance novels including print and digital publications, romantic comedies, relationship books, jewelry and sexual wellness products, on a per capita basis.

“It then ranks them based on who purchased the most units in those categories,” he said.

Gouveia did not, however, specify what Welland residents are buying and how much of those items they purchased to warrant inclusion in the list.

Although a media release initially said only cities with more than 80,000 residents were included on the list — substantially more than Welland’s population of 52,293 — Gouveia said the population threshold for cities included in the ranking was actually 20,000 residents.

The majority of cities making the list were in western Canada, including eight in British Columbia and five in Alberta.

Victoria, B.C., earned the top spot, followed by Abbortsford, B.C., in second place and Whitehorse, Yukon, in third.

The only other Ontario cities making the list were Waterloo in 12th position and North Bay in 19th.